Who Is Qualified to. Prepare 
for Foreign Missionary 
Service? 


By \ 
FENNELL P. TURNER 
— 


The need for workers in the foreign 
mission field was never so gfeat or so 
urgent as at the present time. 

From missions already established, : 
there is the pressing, constant demand 
year after year for men and women to 
fill the places of those who fall at their 
posts or are compelled*to retire from 
active service for reasons beyond their 
control. The rapid growth of the work 
has created a demand for the enlarge- 
ment of the staff of every mission. 
There is the call for workers from the 
unoccupied portions of the occupied 
fields. There is also the appeal of the 
wholly unoccupied territory where no 
missions have been established. The 


1 


cry for help that comes from all these 
fields is not that of one man, but of 
multitudes “having no hope and with- 
out God in the world.” 

The demand from the foreign mis- 
sion field is not only for an increase in 
the number of workers; greater empha- 
sis than ever before is laid on the better 
preparation of missionaries. The call 
for specialists comes from missions 
which have been established for years. 
The demand is that the ordained mis- 
sionary should have more thorough 
preparation than his predecessors. The 
doctor should have college training, 
four years in medical school, and ade- 
quate hospital training. The teacher 
who goes to the foreign mission field 
should take special courses in educa- 
tion. 

In response to this demand for better 
preparation, Boards of Missionary 
Preparation have been established on 
both sides of the Atlantic. They are 
attempting to formulate standards of 
preparation which are necessary for 
foreign missionaries. Theological sem- 
inaries, missionary training schools and 


2 


colleges are adding professors and are 
offering additional courses in order to 
be in a position to supply this special 
training for missionary candidates, 

All this emphasis on better prepara- 
tion and on specialization has resulted 
in some confusion as to the real objec- 
tive of the missionary’s work. Conse- 
quently, we find some candidates put- 
ting the emphasis on the professional 
qualifications and others on the specific 
calls which are constantly coming frorr 
the field rather than on the real purpose 
of the missionary enterprise. In thei 
commendable zeal to be professionally 
. qualified and to do the work for which 
this professional training fits them, 
they have sometimes lost sight of the © 
vocation of the missionary, and not a 
few young missionaries have become 
discouraged upon reaching the field be- 
cause the special work which they 
thought they had been sent out to do 
was not open to them. The real ob- 
jective of foreign missions has been 
confused with the methods of doing the 
work; and an undue emphasis has been 
placed upon the professional aspects 


2 


‘ather than upon the aim of the enter- 
rise. 

Men and women are required for 
missionary work who know Jesus 
Christ as personal Saviour and Lord, 
and are so filled with His Spirit that 
they go forth as His ambassadors. 
From personal experience they know 
that He alone can give life and supply 
the energy which is necessary if men 
are to become His disciples and are to | 
live the life which makes possible their 
becoming uplifting forces in the com- 
munities where they work. The funda- 
mental principle which should be em- 
»hasized as strongly as possible is this: . 
mnly men who are moved by the pri- 
nary purpose which called the whole 
nissionary enterprise into existence are 
prepared to do the work of mission- 
aries, The real purpose of the mission- 
ary enterprise is to give all people an 
adequate opportunity to know Jesus 
Christ as their Saviour and to become 
His real disciples, and to found and 
build up His Church so that it may be- 
come, as soon as possible, self-propa- 
gating, self-supporting and self-govern- 

4 


ing. Dominated by this compelling mo- 
tive, the professional aspects of one’s 
work become secondary—not unimpor- 
tant, but simply the means to the great 
end. Moved by this conception, the 
missionary candidate» does not ask 
whether doctors, preachers, agricultur 
ists, nurses, teachers, etc., are needed; 
his position is: I believe it to be God’s 
will that I take Christ to non-Christian 
people and build up His Church. What 
can I do which will facilitate and make 
most effective my great objective? If 
I am to become a doctor, I will prepare 
to be the ibest doctor which it is possi- 
ble for me to be. If a teacher, I will 
leave nothing out of my preparation 
which will increase my efficiency as a 
teacher. If my purpose can best be ful- 
filled by showing people how to im- 
prove their agricultural’ methods or by 
leading them in their industrial pur- 
suits, then I will take the preparation 
which is required foi’ this form of serv- 
ice. If it is as an evangelistic worker, 
then I will make the preparation which 
will fit me best to do the work of an 
evangelist. 


A study of the lives of the mission- 
aries through whose labors men and 
women in non-Christian lands have be- 
come the disciples of Jesus Christ, and 
churches have been founded and devel- 
oped, hospitals established, schools or- 
ganized, and Christian communities 
have come into existence, shows that 
they were dominated by the conscious- 
ness of the mission to make Jesus Christ 
known to the people as their Saviour, 
ind to lead them to become His true 
lisciples. David Livingstone decided 
irst to become a missionary. He stu- 
lied medicine because he believed that - 
through this profession he could most 
effectually accomplish his purpose. 
Bishop Alfred Robert Tucker was at 
the beginning of his career an artist of 
great promise; one day as he painted a 
picture of a homeless, lost woman, he 
cried out: “God help me, why don’t I 
go to lost people themselves instead of 
painting pictures of them.” So, moved 
by the desire to gu, as he expressed it, 
‘to that part of the world where men 
ind women seem to be most lost,” he 
orepared himself to do the work of an 


6 


ordained missionary, went to East Af- 
rica and preached Christ to the people 
of Uganda. 


Men of a wide variety of training and 
talents, impelled by the motive which 
we have described, have unlimited scope 
for these talents in their vocation as 
foreign missionaries. Alexander Mac- 
kay was trained in Edinburgh Univer- 
sity as a mechanical engineer. A few 
years after graduation, he was led to 
offer himself to a missionary society for 
service in Africa. No doubt his train- 
ing as a mechanical engineer was an im- 
portant factor in the Board’s decision 
to accept him, but Alexander Mackay 
did not go to Africa to practise his pro- 
fession as a mechanical engineer. He 
went to Africa because of his desire to 
preach Jesus Christ to the people of 
Uganda. His training as an engineer 
was not lost. He made use of it day 
after day, but it was secondary to the 
great compelling objective which led 
him to give years of painful self-sacri- 
ficing effort to the people among whom 
he labored. 


._ Furthermore, the missionary candi- 
date who goes to the field actuated by 
this motive is not disturbed if on ac- 
count of changes in conditions his own 
work must be different from that which 
he expected it would be. Since his vo- 
cation is that of a missionary, the kind 
of work which he is to do is of second- 
ary importance. He is ready not only 
to “become all things to all men that he 
may by all means save some,” but he is 
ready to undertake any kind of service 
which may be necessary. Arthur Jack- 
son, a Cambridge man, went to Man- 
churia to become a professor in a 
medical school. He had been there only 
a few weeks when the ravages ofthe 
Plague called for someone to do inspec- 
tion duty at a railway station. In the 
spirit of Christ, Jackson responded to 
this call. He could have justified a 
negative response on the ground that 
he went out to work as a professor in 
a college, but the motive which domi- 
nated*Jackson made the work of in- 
specting the coolies from the plague 
district as genuinely missionary work 


8 


= 


as that of lecturing to students at the 
college. 

Some years ago a medical graduate 
applied to his Board for appointment 
as a medical missionary. The financial 
position of the Board was such that a 
medical missionary could not be ap- 
pointed. The only opening was for a 
teacher of English in a Government 
school in a small city in Japan. He 
might have declined to go to Japan on 
the ground that he had prepared as a 
medical missionary. However, his 
primary motive was to preach Jesus 
Christ, so he went to Japan and worked 
as a teacher of English in the Govern- 
ment school because this work afforded 
that opportunity. Through his work 
and influence a smali group of Japan- 
ese young men accepted Christ, and 
have since become the leaders of the 
Church in their Province. The ques- 
tion may be raised:: Did not this man 
make a mistake in turning aside from 
his profession as a medical missionary? 
So far as he was concerned, there is 
but one answer. He had dedicated his 
life to the task of making Jesus Christ 


9 


known to non-Christian peoples. The 
way to go as a medical missionary was 
closed. The teaching of English in a 
Government school afforded the oppor- 
tunity to enter upon his vocation as a 
missionary, and he took advantage of it. 

The candidate must place the empha- 
sis where it belongs: on the objective, 
the end to be accomplished. Then the 
important question of professional 
qualifications and training will fall in- 
to its rightful place. Every form of 
service is needed and is effective, pro- 
vided it is rightly related to the primary 


aim. And the missionary candidate 
must make the preparation which ex- 


perience proves necessary. In _ his 
eagerness to prepare for his profession, 
he must not lose sight of his vocation. 
This objective kept constantly in view 
will be to the missionary candidate the 
greatest inspiration to secure the prep- 
aration which is necessary. God does 
not approve carelessly prepared work- 
ers or slipshod workmanship. It will 
also lead to the best work and the great- 
est results on the field. Unless men go 
to the mission field with the right mo- 


10 


tive, it is impossible for Jesus Christ to 
work in and through them, and unless 
He do this, there can be no results of an 
abiding character. 

For the majority of those who decide 
to become foreign missionaries, no 
change of profession is necessary. If 
a man has decided to enter the Chris- 
tian ministry, he will add to his prepar- 
ation for the ministry the special prep- 
aration which is necessary for the or- 
dained foreign missionary. If he ex- 
pects to become a physician, he will 
add to the studies required of the 
doctor in the homeland any additional 
studies which may be necessary in the 
preparation of the medical missionary. 
However, if the missionary candidate 
finds that the profession for which he 
is preparing is not such as will enable 
him most efficiently to follow the vo- 
cation of a foreign missionary, he will 
not hesitate to change his course of 
study. I have known young men look- 
ing forward to professions such as sci- 
entific agriculture, engineering in its 
different branches, architecture, etc., 
who have turned aside from these use- 

11 


ful callings to prepare as ordained 
evangelistic missionaries, as teachers or 
as doctors because the training in these 
professions better fitted them for the 
vocation of foreign missionaries. When 
dominated by the motive which ought 
to cause men to dedicate their lives to 
foreign. missionary service, they will 
not hesitate to change their courses 
whenever such changes will better fit 
them to do the work which they go out 
to do. 

Men and women who feel that they 
should go as missionaries are not 
excused from their missionary respon- 
sibility because they distrust their abil- 
ities or have not had all the ideal 
training. No matter how humble an 
opinion they may have of themselves, 
they should frankly face their mission- 
ary duty and not regard the question 
closed until they have conferred with 
one of the secretaries’ of the Student 
Volunteer Movement or of a Foreign 
Mission Board. The desire to become 


* Information may be secured by writing to 
the General Secretary, Student Volunteer 
Movement, 25 Madison Avenue, New York. 


12 


a missionary creates the obligation to 
secure the training necessary for effi- 
cient service on the mission field. 

If circumstances make it impossible 
for missionary candidates to take addi- 
tional preparation, they should apply to 
their foreign mission Boards, and if the 
Boards find it possible to accept them, 
go to the mission field with such prep- 
aration as they have. 

When the owner of the ship on 
which Robert Morrison had engaged 
passage learned that his passenger was 
going to China as a missionary, he said 
with a sneer: “And so, Mr. Morrison, 
you really expect that you will make an 
impression on the idolatry of the great 
Chinese Empire?’ “No, sir,” replied 
Morrison, “but I expect God will.’ 
The men and women who enter upon 
foreign missionary work to-day must 
be driven by the same spirit and motive 
and have the same faith as that which 
took the pioneer Morrison to China.. In 
those days to all but the few whose 
eyes had been opened, the task was ab- 
solutely impossible and hopeless; it 
was a fool’s errand. To-day men look 


13 


Copies of this pamphlet may be or- 
dered from the Student Volunteer 
Movement, 25 Madison Avenue, New 


York City, at 5c. each, 50c. per dozen, 
$3.00 per hundred, express charges 
prepaid. 





Coryricut, 1915, By 
STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT 
FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS 


